


God Bless America

by sir_kingsley



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bakery, Best Friends, Castiel Has a Crush on Dean, Childhood Friends, Dean Has a Crush on Castiel, DeanCas - Freeform, Destiel - Freeform, First Kiss, Fourth of July, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4264593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sir_kingsley/pseuds/sir_kingsley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Independence Day weekend but Dean Winchester isn't seeing any fireworks. Mostly because his best friend, Cas, is going on a date. Which wouldn't be a big deal. If Dean wasn't madly in love with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	God Bless America

**Author's Note:**

> Well, it's Fourth of July weekend so why not throw some destiel into the festivities? And I've always wanted to do a bakery AU so LET'S JUST DO IT ALL AT ONCE! Hope you enjoy! And happy Independence Day!

Dean Winchester’s day didn’t begin when his alarm clock sounded or even when he finished his first cup of morning coffee.

No, to Dean Winchester the sun rose and set in a pair of bright blue eyes.

“Good morning, Dean.”

He could feel rays of sunshine dancing under his skin, chasing out the remaining tendrils of exhaustion.

“Heya, Cas.”

Castiel Novak was… complicated. Most people would describe him as sweet, but twenty years of friendship had taught Dean that so much more breathed under that tan skin. 

Cas was smart and funny. He was generous and often over attentive, disturbingly observative. but sharp tongued and unapologetically honest while being the most caring and kind person you’ll ever be blessed to meet. 

And all of this was wrapped up in a dark-haired, blue-eyed, too-pink-lipped package designed to be the end of one Dean Winchester. 

And in moments like this, these early mornings – oh, god, the morning when Cas’s hair was still disheveled and his smile carrying the weight of a good night’s sleep, scents of coffee and vanilla and caramel humming around them – Dean was sure he would unravel.

But he didn’t. He hasn’t. Not a single slipup in the twelve years he has been falling in love with his best friend.

Castiel smiled as he pushed a mug across the counter toward Dean. “Sleepy?” he asked in that deep voice that did weird things to Dean this early in the morning.

Actually, it did weird things to Dean at any time of the day.

“Nah,” Dean replied, grasping the mug with two hands and lifting it to his face to take a long whiff. “You know me. Love waking up at five a.m. Get’s me so pumped.”

“Mmm, right, love it about as much as you love Taylor Swift, huh?”

Dean narrowed his eyes. “You promised to never bring that up again.”

Cas shrugged his shoulders with a light smile and swept out toward the dining area.

“Don’t like Taylor,” he grumbled, pushing past the door that led to his sanctuary. “Songs are just catchy.”

He flipped the switch and Dean’s kitchen buzzed to life, all stainless steel and white tile save for one ancient record player by the back office he and Cas shared. He wandered over, searched through the collection of records and dropped it on the player. 

The Beatles rang through the kitchen as Dean gathered his ingredients from the fridge and the cabinets and bringing them to his baking table. He grabbed his giant mixing bowl and got to work. 

This is how every morning went, Dean tossing his dough together for his pies and cakes and cookies; Cas brewing coffee and crushing tealeaves. Once in a while Dean would hear Cas singing and he’d peek his head out the door to see the man rocking an air guitar across the small bakery or swinging his hips behind the counter as he ground coffee beans.

Mary’s Bakery and Tea House began as just the small business project of two college graduates who had no idea what they wanted to do. Baking pies and cookies all day in no way utilized Dean’s fancy engineering degree and no one would have guessed that Cas’s bachelor’s in biology would lead to him brewing coffee and making his own tea. 

But here they were five years later, lifelong best friends turned successful business partners in a small building in downtown Lawrence. They had agreed to name it after Dean’s mom because, though they shared no blood, Mary had been a mother to Cas too, practically adopting him from the first day Dean had dragged him inside to play. When Mary passed their freshman year of college, three sons had mourned her. 

Familiar faces began to flood the bakery, mostly university students seeking their morning fix of caffeine. Sheriff Jody Mills stopped by around eight for her second cup of the day, always making Cas smile when she complained about how his coffee was so much better than hers.

Things began to die down around eleven. Mary’s wasn’t much of a lunch hot spot yet, except for one customer.

Dean was scooping cookies on a sheet, nodding his head to Metallica when Cas whisked through the kitchen. He checked his watch. Almost noon. “Sammy here?”

“And Jess,” Cas called, digging three salads from the fridge.

“Cool. I’ll be out in a few.”

Dean finished loading the cookie sheet and slid it into the oven. He pulled his apron over his head and went to wash his hands and face of the flour and eggs. 

Sam and Jess were at their regular table in the far right corner, picking at their salads. Cas was taking a customer’s order. He turned and slid past Dean, hand brushing Dean’s hip in the cramped area and it took everything in Dean not to react the way he wanted to. 

Cas plated a slice of peanut butter pie. “I’ll be there as soon as I’m finished here.”

“Okay,” Dean said, taking the plate from Cas’s hand.

Cas squinted. “What are you doing, Dean?”

“Lunch,” Dean said with a wink and went to join his brother and his girlfriend. “Hey, kiddos.”

“Watching your diet, I see,” Sam remarked as greeting.

“Well, you know, thought maybe two slices of pie for lunch was a little much.”

“Looks a little late to help now,” Jess teased.

Dean dropped his jaw. “Are you trying to call me fat?”

“If the jeans fit.”

“I think his jeans fit quite nicely,” Cas said, sliding into the booth next to Dean. He arched his brows suggestively at Dean and Dean’s mouth went dry.

Sam coughed. “Right. Well, Jess and I wanted to ask if you guys wanted to ride up to Ellen and Bobby’s with us on Friday.”

Dean turned to his brother, really trying his absolute best not to think more on Cas’s flirting. “Why, um, why are you going to Bobby’s?”

Three pairs of eyes blinked at him.

“Dean, it’s fourth of July weekend,” Sam said. 

“Oh.”

All the red, white, and blue decorations around the shop suddenly registered with Dean. Right. Truthfully, Dean was so busy with the bakery, this wasn’t the first time he had forgotten a holiday.

 

Sam waited for Dean to say something else but Dean just took another bite of his pie. Finally, Sam rolled his eyes and said, “Ellen and Bobby are having a get together at the Roadhouse. Jo, Ash, and Rufus are going to be there. Big dinner, lots of drinking, then catching the firework show out back.”

Dean grinned. “Food, alcohol, and explosives. Sounds like my kind of night.”

“Sam and I were thinking of heading out of Friday and just spending the night there,” Jess said. “Do you guys wanna come?”

Dean took a bite of his pie, working his tongue through the peanut butter filling in his mouth, taking in the hints of chocolate and butterscotch. “Sure, I can go. Cas?”

“I can’t,” Cas said. “I have plans Friday evening.”

“Cas, I think your bees can go one day without you.”

Cas blushed and rolled his eyes. “No, I, ugh, I have a date.”

Dean choked as Jess squealed. “With who?” she demanded, tone far too happy for Dean’s liking.

“His name is Victor,” Cas said, smiling brightly as Jess. “We met at the farmer’s market.”

Dean had to keep from growling. The farmer’s market. The farmer’s market that Cas invited Dean to every Saturday but Dean always said no, insisting he had better ways to spend his Saturday mornings than feeling up produce and watching twenty-year-old hipsters gawk over organic blueberries.

“That’s awesome, Cas,” Jess congratulated. “Right, Dean?”

Dean looked up and smiled. “Yeah, man. That’s awesome. Real happy for you.”

Cas returned a smile and they passed the rest of lunch talking about the weekend, Dean poking at his pie that suddenly just tasted like salt. 

Dean stayed in a similar funk for the rest of the week. Cas was obviously confused about his reserved behavior and honestly, so was Dean. 

This wasn’t the first time Cas had gotten a date or been in a relationship. Cas was a catch, and damn if Dean didn’t know that better than anyone. It amazed Dean that Cas had been single so long because if Dean could-

Oh, god, he’d never let him go.

Dean couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t ask Cas out. He wasn’t in the closet anymore. Dean had come out as bisexual in high school, just a few years after Cas had come out. He wasn’t ashamed of liking men and no one that mattered to him had a problem with it. 

And it wasn’t like Dean hadn’t tried before. He’d actually attempted asking Cas out on a few different occasions, but every time he did his tongue got all twisted and he ended up asking some dumb questions about bee pollination or something. Which Cas answered happily. And Dean fell a little more in love with him.

Dean showed up to work Friday to find the bakery locked. Cas wasn’t here yet. Dean frowned. Cas was always here first. In five years, Cas had always gotten here first. Dean remembered being shocked at first because Cas was the grumpiest, slowest little shit in the morning.

He pushed his way inside and to the front counter where he struggled to operate Cas’s fancy coffee equipment because he needed caffeine now.

It was a little after six when Cas dashed into the bakery, eyes wide with alarm and cheeks flushed. “I’m so sorry,” he rambled as he ran past Dean at the baking table and into the office. He dropped his things and came back out, saying, “I just didn’t hear my alarm clock this morning. I’m not sure why.”

“It’s fine,” Dean said as he worked his rolling pin through a mound of dough.

“Okay. Well, I’ll go make your coffee if-”

“I already made some.”

There was a pause.

“You did?”

Dean looked up to find Cas’s adorable frown. “I know how to make coffee Cas.”

Cas raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think you can call that bean sludge you make coffee.”

Dean laughed, Cas’s wrinkled nose momentarily bringing him out of his pity party. “Get to work, Novak.”

Cas’s smile was the brightest he’d seen it in days. “Aye, aye, captain.”

The day went reasonably well. The atmosphere was a lot better than it had been in days prior.

Then four o’clock came. They cleaned up the bakery with Led Zeppelin spinning on the record player. Cas retreated into the office to do some paperwork, only coming out to ask Dean what he needed refilled or if he had any special requests.

They were locking up a little after six. 

They stood outside the locked bakery for a moment, just staring at each other.

It never ceased to amaze Dean how beautiful Cas was, all blue eyes and bedhead, laugh lines and chapped lips. 

Dean coughed. “So, when are you going on your date?”

Cas seemed to startle a bit at the sound of Dean’s voice. “Um, now. He’s meeting me here.”

Dean felt a sudden urge to fly away. “Then, I’ll get out of your hair.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean you… You don’t have to leave,” Cas said. “Now. He’s just…”

“It’s okay, man,” Dean said fishing his keys from his pockets. “You still coming to Ellen’s tomorrow?”

“Yes.” He laughed to himself. “Jess wants me to bring Victor.”

Goddammit, Jess, Dean cursed mentally. “Oh. Yeah. Yeah, that would be fun. I’m sure he’d have a good time. As long as you keep him out of Bobby’s whisky cabinet.” They both smiled, remembering a time they had learned that lesson the hard way.

“Are you heading up tonight?” Cas asked.

“Probably not.”

“Okay.”

Dean pursed his lips, not sure how the hell this awkward silence had come about or how to get rid of it. “Well, I better get going.”

“Okay,” Cas said again.

Dean spun toward the Impala, stepping off the curb.

He sighed. “Hey, Cas?”

He turned and Cas was watching him. “Yes?”

“I hope you have a great time tonight,” Dean said, hoping his eyes looked as earnest as he wanted them to. “Really.”

Maybe Dean was just tired but he could have sworn Cas frowned before he smiled. “Thank you, Dean.”

Dean nodded and ducked into the Impala, driving off before he could see Cas’s date.

Dean was a little late getting to Ellen’s the next day. Hell, he almost didn’t go at all. He had no desire to spend hours watching Cas flirt with his Victor dude. If he planned it right he could get there around eight, spend the next hour or so drinking his weight in Jack Daniels and be drunk enough to pass out right after the fireworks so he wouldn’t remember a thing. A perfect way to spend Independence Day.

Of course, that also meant subjecting himself to a bunch of angry phone calls from Sam, Jess, Ellen, Bobby, and Cas, wondering where the fuck he was. By mid afternoon he just stopped answering.

Indeed, when Dean finally arrived everyone was in Bobby’s backyard and pretty plastered. He still got a smack upside his head from Ellen, but once he gave her the cookies he’d made, all was forgiven. 

Sam, Jess, Jo, Ash, and Bobby all took turns greeting him with heavy hugs and sloppy kisses and hard pats on the back, anger at his lateness long forgotten with the help of tequila and beer. 

Dean made a beeline for the kitchen after that, peeking around every corner to make sure Cas and Victor weren’t necking in the next room. He got to the fridge and pulled out two beers. He popped the cap on one and began to chug.

“Let me know when you need an AA sponsor.”

Dean lowered the bottle to find Charlie Bradbury smirking at him. He finished the beer with a loud sigh and popped the cap on the second. “You know you’d be my first choice.”

Charlie jumped up to sit on the counter next to where Dean stood. She swung her legs and took a sip from her bottle. “You know you’re like four hours late, right?”

“Yep.”

“Is there a reason?”

“Got busy.”

“Dude. I have to listen to Ellen and Sam bitch about you all night and you’re going to lie to me?”

Dean took a long gulp. “Yep.”

Charlie scoffed. “I don’t know what’s crawled up yours and Cas’s asses but I’m about to-”

Dean turned to face Charlie. “What’s wrong with Cas?” 

Charlie shrugged. “I don’t know. He won’t say anything. He’s been upstairs most of the night sulking.”

Dean was off without another word, running up the stairs and down the hall to the room the boys had shared as kids when they came to stay with Bobby and Ellen on the weekends.

He stopped long enough to knock, waiting impatiently for a response that was taking too long to come. He reached for the handle-

“Yes?”

Dean pushed through the door. Cas was laid out across the bed closest to the window, staring up at the ceiling like he would do when they were young. Dean always found it weird but Cas had insisted that if you tried hard enough you could find constellations in the bumpy texture.

Not that Dean needed to look up to see the stars. He only ever had to turn his head.

Cas craned his neck as Dean shut the door behind him. “Hello, Dean.”

“Heya, Cas. Whatcha doin’ up here?”

“Looking at our constellations.”

Dean sat down on the bed next to Cas, hesitating before he laid down, head just a few inches from Cas’s. He looked up at the popcorn ceiling, grinning when he saw the Sharpie markings outlining the constellations Cas had either found or made up. They had gotten in a lot of trouble that day. 

“That still doesn’t look like the big dipper,” he said.

“Of course it does, Dean.”

“It’s a bowl, Cas.”

“Spoons are essentially tiny bowls on a stick.”

Dean laughed but Cas didn’t join him. He took a breath and looked over the other shapes. Three connected circles that were Orion’s belt. Aquarius, Taurus, and Leo for his, Sammy, and Cas’s zodiac signs. An angel because of Cas’s name, a car for Dean and Sammy’s teddy bear’s face.

“Where’s Victor?”

“I didn’t bring him.”

“How was your date?”

“Fine.”

Dean took a breath. “You gonna go out with him again?”

“No.”

There was no preventing the flood of relief that washed through Dean’s body. “Why not?”

Cas’s breath was small when he answered. “He’s not what I want.”

Dean paused, trying to decipher what that could mean. “Like he’s not your type?”

Cas snorted. “On the contrary. He’s clever, funny, good-looking, thoughtful.” A pause. “He’s not afraid to ask for what he really wants.”

Dean gulped. “Sounds like a keeper, Cas.”

“He’s too good for me.”

Dean’s head turned so he could look at the side of Cas’s face. “What? Cas, you’re perfect! You deserve anyone you want.”

“Not perfect enough for the one person who matters.”

“Oh.” Dean looked at the celling again. So Cas liked someone, really liked someone. Someone he didn’t feel he could have. Dean’s heart ached for his best friend. He knew that feeling too well. “Well, does this person know that you like them?”

“I thought so. But maybe I was being too subtle all these years.”

Years? Oh, god, Cas, not you too, Dean thought even as he processed all the people he and Cas had known for years who Cas might be attracted to. But all he could come up with was Sam and that made him wrinkle his nose. Jess would kill Cas. 

Maybe Charlie or Jess. But if it was Charlie, Cas was in for a hard life and if it was Jess he was in for a hard punch to the face from Sam.

“Well, Cas, maybe this person is just an idiot and you have to be real upfront with them. Just shove ‘em against a wall and scream ‘I love you’ in their face, kiss the fuck out of ‘em and if it’s anything like the movies you’ll be getting laid by the end of the day.” Dean winked, though his stomach was rolling. “Can’t hurt to try right?”

Cas blinked. Then he sat up and in one swift movement he was straddling Dean’s hips, hands braced on Dean’s shoulders.

Dean’s head felt fuzzy and he struggled to breathe. “Cas, what are you-?”

“It would be too much trouble to pick you up and then shove you into a wall and I’m not a fan of screaming unless under very special circumstances,” Cas said, leaning down so his lips hovered just a breath over Dean’s. “So this will have to do.” His eyes bore into Dean’s, a confession Dean had dreamt of hearing screaming in the blue depths. 

“I love you, Dean.” 

Dean felt the words more than he heard them and then he just felt Cas’s lips pressing down on his, moving in slow motions, tongue slipping into his mouth and-

There were no sparks or fireworks, no fire licking through his veins.

No. 

Kissing Cas was…

It was like breathing for the very first time.

And Dean inhaled greedily, moving his lips against Cas’s, craning his neck up for more pressure, needing to taste more, to feel more of Cas. Cas lowered his body so they were touching, hips to lips.

Then Cas pulled back and Dean laid still, just trying to breathe as Cas stared into his eyes.

“It’s me?”

Cas laughed. “Why do you sound so surprised?”

“Because, Cas, I-” Dean growled and covered his reddening face with his hands.

“Dean?” Cas asked, confused.

“Cas, I’ve had a crush on you since tenth grade,” Dean groaned into his hands. 

Cas fell silent for a moment. “No you haven’t.”

Dean just nodded.

“Wow,” Cas breathed. 

“Yeah.”

“So all this time…”

“Mmm.”

“All throughout school and college and five years working together…”

“Yeah,” Dean said again. “We could have been having sex in the kitchen.”

“Dean!” Cas’s scowl only lasted for a moment before he laughed. “We’re going to have a long conversation later about our communication.”

“But now?”

Cas’s smile sent chills down Dean’s spine. “Well, we’re not in a kitchen but you mentioned something about getting laid earlier…” Cas drawled, lowering his head again to Dean could feel his breath fanning his face and this time Dean definitely felt fire in his veins.

As if on cue, a fist banged against the door and Cas dropped his head to Dean’s chest. “Hey, grumps,” Charlie called. “Fireworks are about to begin.”

Dean groaned, rolling his head against the mattress. “I fuckin’ hate the fourth of July.”

He felt Cas’s lips move against his throat and Dean’s stomach muscles tightened. “Mmm, I don’t know,” Cas murmured into Dean’s skin. “I kinda like it.”

“Really?”

“This one has been pretty amazing.” Cas’s lips moved back to Dean’s and this kiss was harder, faster than the last. It was claiming and punishing, all long strokes and light nibbles, pushing Dean further and further toward the edge of a cliff he was too happy to dive off of.

When Cas pulled away this time, Dean was panting and he felt flushed and full of energy but blissed out at the same time. Cas pecked him on the lips one last time and Dean sighed happily. “God bless America.”


End file.
